Hitherto, a side-impact airbag apparatus, in which a side-impact airbag is expanded to a side portion of an occupant by means of an inflator and restrains a body of the occupant in a lateral collision of a vehicle such as an automobile or the like, or an overturn of a vehicle body, or the like is well known. The side-impact airbag apparatus is housed in, for example, a backrest portion of a seat, and in the lateral collision or the like, the side-impact airbag is expanded and developed from the backrest portion to a space between the occupant and a side wall portion of the vehicle body by a gas that is blown out from the inflator.
Further, a side-impact airbag having a tether therein for limiting a thickness of the airbag when in deployed state, to a predetermined thickness is also known in the conventional art. For example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-225351 (Patent Document 1).
In the aforementioned conventional technology, a basic configuration of a side-impact airbag apparatus having the tether for limiting the thickness of the airbag when in the deployed state, to the predetermined thickness, and causing the airbag to be expanded in a space between an occupant and a side wall portion of a vehicle body in an emergency, is disclosed. For promoting optimum of the side-impact airbag apparatus having such a configuration, it is required to improve a forward expanding capability of the side-impact airbag at the time of expansion.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to solve the problems stated above and provide a side-impact airbag and a side-impact airbag apparatus capable of improving the forward developing capability at the time of deployment.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.